Do Magnets Aid In Relieving Injuries?

Magnetic therapy is basically an alternative form of medical practice used to alleviate health concerns that are more specifically related to pain. This therapy uses unmoving magnets to relieve a patient of such health problems related to pain.

Magnets that are used in pain therapies are commonly integrated into rings, bracelets, mattresses, clothing etc. But here is the main question. Does it really cure pain to a certain extent like the way it should? Or does it just act as a form of a placebo?

[Note: Placebo- It’s a medicine/procedure that’s prescribed particularly for psychological benefits rather than for physiological effects].

Many studies in the past have shown us this fact that static or unmoving magnetic devices doesn’t offer much benefits than devices devoid of magnets. Such studies can easily suggest the fact that, magnets mainly have a placebo effect on patients.

In this article, we are going to discuss the ways through which the magnetic devices are supposed to work to alleviate pain and other related medical issues.

How is the magnetic therapy supposed to work?

It’s believed that magnetic therapy goes at least two thousand years back. Healers in Asia and Europe are believed to have used magnetic therapy to alleviate a number of ailments related to pain. But that was basically a type of folktale. Those healers also believed that such magnets can draw out the diseases from a body. Modern studies have confirmed the fact that such a belief is basically illogical.

Nowadays those who actually believe in the efficiency of magnetic therapy cite the ability of unmovable magnets to change an individual’s bioenergetic field. Bioenergetic fields are defined to be that energy field that supposedly surround as well as penetrate a human body. Do you know this term chi? That’s the term popularly used to represent this bioenergetic field. The belief is that the bioenergetic fields can be manipulated through magnets which, in turn can supposedly be used to heal injuries or illness.

Many companies who deal in therapeutic magnets also claim that a magnet increases the flow of blood in that specific region of the body where it’s worn. This theory is supposedly plausible to a certain extent. That’s because blood contains iron. Magnets, on the other hand attract iron. So, you may think that this theory stands. But this one also doesn’t stand if you look into the matter from a wider point of view. The iron that’s present in blood is bound to haemoglobin. It is not ferromagnetic in nature. If it had been ferromagnetic, the human body would have burst under certain magnetic scans such as the MRI where the magnets are almost thousand times more powerful than the ones used in magnetic therapy.

So what do the studies say? Does it “really” work? Or does it not? Let’s see.

What do the scientific studies say?

Such studies have failed to detect any efficiency of magnets in treating joint or pain and muscle stiffness problems. You can go through one such study here.

Some smaller studies do report a few therapeutic values but the larger studies do not.

So you see that as far as scientific studies are concerned, there’s no logical proof that magnets are capable of healing injuries. But if you take into account its psychological support, you might be sure of one thing that it can do that job effectively.

Sudipto Das

Sudipto writes technical and educational content periodically for wizert.com and backs it up with extensive research and relevant examples. He's an avid reader and a tech enthusiast at the same time with a little bit of “Arsenal Football Club” thrown in as well. He's got a B.Tech in Electronics and Instrumentation.
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